Microsoft's "Ask Copilot" taskbar feature is still on track for a broad rollout this summer, the company confirmed this week, even as it pulls AI buttons out of Notepad, Snipping Tool, and other Windows apps. The feature, first spotted in preview builds last year, replaces the traditional Search box with a Copilot-powered input field that understands natural language queries. Type "when is my performance review due" and it pulls answers from Teams and Outlook, or type "how do I make my cursor bigger" to surface the correct settings page directly.
Ask Copilot is opt-in and off by default. Users enable it through Settings under Personalization, Taskbar, and Ask Copilot.
Microsoft 365 Director Jeremy Chapman demonstrated the feature in a video earlier this year, showing how users can trigger AI agents with "@" commands, such as "@researcher" for deep research tasks that can run for 10 minutes or more with progress indicators on the taskbar. The timing matters. In March, Windows president Pavan Davuluri publicly admitted Windows 11 had "gone off track" and outlined a sweeping plan to fix the OS, including pulling back Copilot integrations from apps like Notepad, Photos, and Snipping Tool. That effort, codenamed Windows K2, aims to reduce what users have derided as "microslop." But reducing AI in some places doesn't mean abandoning it everywhere. In a 14-page e-book published this week, Microsoft argues that Windows 11 is an "AI OS where work actually happens," positioning the operating system as a strategic asset in enterprise AI stacks rather than a platform for bolting on standalone AI tools.
"The answer isn't more AI," Microsoft writes in the document. "It's AI that works where people already are." The company cites its own 2025 data showing 80% of workers lack time for daily tasks and 82% of executives planned to add AI agents. Microsoft's conclusion: adding more tools makes the problem worse, but embedding AI into existing workflows, like the taskbar, delivers results.
This explains why Ask Copilot is arriving alongside a new docking system that pins the AI to the side of the desktop, effectively reverting to the original sidebar design from 2023. The change was noted, with the AI now running as an Edge-based wrapper with its own private browser instance.
Microsoft is also working on a "Copilot Design System," led by newly appointed Microsoft 365 Chief Design Officer John Friedman, a 22-year Redmond veteran. The system aims to make AI interactions "feel intentional and humane," according to Friedman, with unified entry points across Office apps and across the OS. The rollout is expected to reach all Windows 11 users this summer, alongside the Windows K2 improvements that include a movable taskbar, reduced RAM usage, and fewer forced updates.
